


Trust Your Instincts

by DuaeCat



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: M/M, Modern AU, Pokemon GO - Freeform, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 22:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12198663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuaeCat/pseuds/DuaeCat
Summary: The entirely self-indulgent SWR Pokemon Go Modern AU no one asked for.Ezra keeps getting flirty messages from a fellow gamer that he's always 'seeing' but never actually run into in person, and he's ready for that to change.





	Trust Your Instincts

_Hey loser, what coffee do you want?_

Ezra blinked sleepily at his phone, trying to remember why he was awake. It was his day off, he could sleep as late as he wanted, so why did the time say it was far too early? Then he groaned, scrubbing a hand across his face. Right, he’d agreed to meet up with Sabine and Zeb in the park the other day back when past-him was far more optimistic about his ability to wake up early without a paycheck on the line.

 _Usual, thnx_  Ezra typed, hauling himself up and deciding he was clean enough to forgo the shower as he got dressed. He grabbed his keys, heading out the door.

Sabine and Zeb were already waiting, having claimed the picnic table positioned perfectly to hit the largest number of pokéstops and the most convenient gym. He knew without even opening up his phone that the gym would already be blue and loading up the app only confirmed it. At least his coffee was still hot and he took the cup gratefully as he settled in on the bench. They weren’t a pair he would have expected to be good friends, Sabine was petite with short hair that she dyed a variety of colors and tended to alternate between being exceptionally fashionable and throwing on whatever old clothing was the most likely to withstand her art projects. She was obviously East-Asian, but she’d never specified exactly what ethnicity and Ezra would have bitten his tongue off before he asked her any sort of variation on ‘so what are you?’ Zeb was huge, dark skinned, bald and bearded. He looked intimidating if you didn’t know any better.

“Five more minutes and I’d have drank your coffee,” Zeb teased as Ezra plunked down to grab his cup.

“Yeah right, you don’t like anything where you can taste the coffee over the sugar,” Ezra shot back, taking a long sip.

“Not my fault you have shitty taste in coffee,” Zeb chuckled as Ezra calmly flipped him off.

“Adorable, you two are how old?” Sabine smirked from behind her phone.

“Like you have any room to talk,” Ezra grinned at her. “Ready for classes to start back?”

“I think so, I keep telling myself seeing all their bright smiling faces makes fighting with the school board over every nickel and dime for supplies worth it,” Sabine said ruefully.

“Instead of wanting to throw crayons and coloring books at them and then lock yourself in the supply closet and drink?” Zeb asked, amused.

“They’re not all that awful,” Sabine defended with a laugh, tapping her phone. “Charmander at the stop at the far side of the parking lot.”

“I still need a decent Charizard,” Ezra sighed, starting to haul himself up.

“Gimmie, I need one too,” Zeb reached for Ezra’s phone and he handed it over gratefully as Zeb got up to wander across the parking lot.

“Don’t forget the Pinaps,” Ezra called after him, content to be lazy for the moment.

“How about you, how’s work going?” Sabine asked.

“It’s work, it pays the bills, not really much to say,” Ezra shrugged. Sometimes he kind of envied Sabine’s passion for art and teaching.

“Exciting,” Sabine teased, but she let the subject drop.

“Here’s your fire lizard,” Zeb returned, passing him back the phone. “And your girlfriend’s messaging you again,”

Ezra flushed, opening up the chat window. “Don’t spy on my stuff, and she’s not my girlfriend.”

“Didn’t, just saw the notification. And she wants to be, that’s close enough,” Zeb grinned at him.

“You know I’m not interested in having a girlfriend, and she’s probably just being friendly. It’s not like there’s a lot of other Instinct players around here,” Ezra pointed out, scanning the message and just typing back a quick reply. “She just wanted to know if I knew of anything going on today,”

“Which she’s sending in a private message to you instead of posting in the general chat. She likes you,” Zeb smirked. “And you’ve dated girls before,”

“You’re reaching, and that was one girl, years ago. Why couldn’t it be a cute guy instead?” Ezra mock-complained, even if he flushed a little. There weren’t a lot of Instinct, most of the other players seemed evenly divided up between Mystic and Valor, so when he started seeing the same Specter01 popping up in yellow gyms over and over he didn’t think much about it other than to be glad there were other players around. “Besides I’ve never actually run into her, who knows what she’s really like?”

“You could always invite her to join us sometime,” Sabine pointed out, and Ezra made a face.

“Don’t you start too!” Ezra shook a fist at her mock-threateningly.

“I’m not matchmaking, there’s just always room for more people in our group, and at least she’s not Valor,” Sabine said, with a certain hostility to her voice on the last bit. Ezra smothered a laugh, even if he entirely agreed.

“Fuckin’ Valor,’ Zeb growled, and then gave his phone a harder look. “Speak of the devil.”

Ezra played with the view on the game until the battling gym animation came up, peering across the parking-lot.

“Of course it’s Vader,” Ezra shook his head slightly when he saw the big black SUV.

“Maybe Luke and Leia came with him?” Sabine said hopefully.

“I still can’t figure out how someone as nice as Luke came from a dad like that,” Ezra watched without surprise as the gym went gray, then red with a Blissey spinning over it.

“With his endless supply of three thousand CP Blisseys that can’t possibly be because he spoofs or bots? No idea,” Zeb grumbled and Ezra smiled. Being able to complain about the red players made it a little less aggravating.

It wasn’t long after the SUV parked that Luke was out, jogging across the parking lot to join them, and add Skywalker to the gym Sabine and Zeb were already holding. That was good for them at least, the odds of Vader taking a gym went down significantly if one of the twins was in but hadn’t been there long enough to get all their coins. Unless Leia was there to claim a gym for Instinct, though, Ezra was probably screwed on turning any of the gyms yellow as long as Vader lurked in the area.

Ezra scooted over to make room, glad to see Luke. They were the same age, almost to the same day even, and Luke was generally so upbeat it wasn’t too big a hardship to lay off their petty complaining about his dad and the other Valor players for while.

“Where’s Leia?” Sabine asked, once Luke was settled.

“Out with friends, I didn’t really ask.” Luke shrugged. “Anything good?’

“Just the usual garbage, but the weather’s nice,” Ezra decided to be content to sit and work on building up his stock of potions and revives for his next gym sweep.

“Heard it was supposed to be rainy later this week,” Zeb spoke up.

Ezra relaxed as the conversation kept flowing, all light topics. The game was an excellent excuse to meet and hang out. Would it really be that bad if he asked Specter to join them? He’d been honest about telling her they were hanging out at the park and things like that, but he’d never outright invited her to join them. He hadn’t wanted to seem pushy, but maybe she thought she’d be intruding. At least if he got to meet her some of the mystery would be gone and Zeb would probably stop teasing. Maybe.

After a moment he minimized the app and brought up the chat program, clicking on the private chat with Specter01.

 _Want to hang with us at the park?_  Ezra typed, sending it before he could chicken out.

After he’d had plenty of time to worry he’d come across as creepy he finally got a reply.

_Sorry, busy today, but thanks!_

Ezra wasn’t sure why he was so disappointed.

 

* * *

 

 _Lugia raid, you in?_  The text came close to two weeks later from Zeb, along with a screenshot of the gym. Ezra texted to let him know he was coming and bolted the last of his lunch. He already had one, but he wasn’t going to turn down a chance at another. And it was a nice distraction from the frustration he was feeling. Specter was turning out to be as elusive as her username. He’d tried inviting her to a few more things, all low pressure, but while she didn’t act like she disliked being invited she always had some excuse not to show. He’d see a gym get taken by her, but never one close enough that he could get there before whoever it was left, or she’d pop into a gym long after he’d left.

He’d taken to showing up at raids and not announcing it, keeping his communications between text with Sabine or Zeb, in hopes that she’d show up. He wasn’t interested, not that way, but she was a mystery and it bugged him. He’d gotten used to putting faces to avatars and ‘seeing’ someone around all the time without actually seeing them was getting annoying. Unless… he was starting to wonder if she was even real. Plenty of people had multiple accounts, it could be someone’s idea of a joke. At best it might be a real person spoofing their location, though why they’d come here he had no idea.

Ezra headed to his car, quietly deciding that he’d try a couple more times and then pull back a little. He didn’t want someone to be laughing at him for getting catfished. As he was about to drive away he checked his phone one more time. There was a message in the chat program from Specter01.

 _Any good raids? :D_  

Ezra stared at the message, bit his lip, and then closed out without responding.

He pulled up, probably far from the last person, but there was already a decent sized group. Good, trying to scrape by on barely enough people was always a pain. Zeb waved him over as soon as he got out of the car, where he and Sabine were waiting.

“Thought you might not show,” Zeb commented.

“Nah, might as well use my pass for today.” Ezra scanned the crowd, seeing who was there and looking for any new faces. There were people who’s names he hadn’t gotten or who he’d forgotten their real name. 7Sister, 5Brother, Inquisitor, and the rest of the Valor group were in their own little knot a little away from the others, even if 7’s player always acted friendly it usually came across as fake. They favored waiting until you started taking a gym and then feeding berries in hopes of glitching you out and taking gyms in the wee hours of the morning to keep people from collecting coins overnight.

“Everyone ready to go in? Are we waiting on anyone?” Leia finally called out, scanning the crowd.

“I think we’re good,” Zeb said after a moment of silence.

“Everybody in then,” Leia announced and Ezra tapped on the Battle button, watching as the lobby numbers went up.

It was mostly a sea of red and blue as he scrolled through the avatars, but there were a few other Instinct players. Snips, Rebel for Leia, his own, and then there at the very end another yellow icon. It was Specter. Ezra felt his heart beat a little faster as he scanned the crowd more closely looking for anyone with a second phone or anyone who’s name was missing from the lobby. No sign of any extra phones, fifteen people standing around and sixteen in the online lobby.

His search was cut short when the timer finished ticking down and he had to look down at his phone, tapping and listening to the chatter around him. Most of it was game related, either commentary on the current battle or discussion of past raids and catches, how close people were to leveling up or how close they were to being able to evolve another good pokémon. Normally Ezra would have paid more attention, but the fact he’d actually seen her name in at a raid was enough of a distraction. Did he miss a second phone? Was it proof she was spoofing? Someone else would have had to let her know the exact start time.

Ezra focused on his phone as Lugia finally went down, to the scattered glad sounds from the group. And then things got significantly quieter as everyone focused on hopefully catching it.

Ezra held his breath as it went on on the first ball. He made a quiet cheer under his breath.

“You get it? Great job.” Sabine glanced at his phone with a grin, then went back to trying to catch the legendary.

“Yeah. Did you see anyone with a second phone? There were sixteen people in the battle, but I only see fifteen people here counting us,” Ezra asked, hoping Sabine saw something.

“I didn’t, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Wait, did Specter finally show?” Sabine bit her lip, glancing back and forth between her phone and the crowd.

“She was in the lobby. I’m starting to wonder if she’s someone’s second account, or if she’s spoofing her location,” Ezra admitted.

Sabine winced at that and Zeb made a sympathetic sound.

“I hope not, fun to tease about her being some mystery girl with a crush, but...” Zeb grumbled.

“Yeah, if she’s just one of the other players being obnoxious it’s a lot less funny,” Ezra said, and then looked a little harder. “Wait a sec… I’ll be back.”

Even if several of the parking spaces could reach the gym easily, it was easier to coordinate with everyone else and socialize if you got out. Usually people only stayed in their cars if they were dangerously low on battery. And of course all the gyms were in public areas so there were usually people coming and going and parking who might give the group a weird look but otherwise ignore them. He hadn’t paid a great deal of attention before, but there was someone parked in their car staring at their phone. Normally Ezra wouldn’t have bothered them, but the worst that could happen was they weren’t a player.

He hurried over to the car, putting on his brightest I’m-not-a-weirdo smile and waving at the window. The guy inside looked startled, then rolled it down. So not a girl, that dropped the odds a little, but he’d already come this far.

“Hey, you here playing Pokemon too?” Ezra tried not to be too obvious peering to get a glimpse of his phone.

The guy cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. “I was, I mean, I thought I’d check out the raid.”

Ezra paused, and looked at the guy a little closer. Not everyone chose to make their avatar look anything like themselves, especially with the limited customization that Sabine frequently bemoaned, but it wasn’t unusual for people to try. Bright blue-green eyes, dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, warm umber brown skin a little darker than Ezra’s own. Same as Specter’s avatar, other than the obvious gender difference.

“Are you Specter?” Ezra asked, suddenly a lot surer than he was just a moment ago.

“I… yes.” The guy looked embarrassed.

“Oh thank god you’re a guy.” Ezra blurted out without really thinking about it.

“What?” The guy looked startled and Ezra felt like an idiot.

“Uh, nothing,” Ezra flushed dark. He really didn’t want to get into the whole thing about his friends being convinced Specter had a crush on him.

“ _Kanan_?” Sabine’s surprised voice came from behind him and they both jumped a little. “What are you doing here?

“Wait, you two know each other?” Ezra looked back and forth between them.

“Of course I do. Kanan teaches mythology, we’ve both been sitting through the same staff meetings for the past weeks.” Sabine glanced at his phone. “You never said you played Go.”

“He’s Specter,” Ezra spoke up.

“You’re the mysterious Specter? The one that’s been flirting with Ezra for weeks now?” Sabine sounded surprised.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make this awkward. I can stop bothering you.” Kanan said.

“Hey, it’s not… ok it’s very awkward right now, so how about we do dinner later? Or lunch tomorrow. Or… something.” Ezra couldn’t help but notice Kanan hadn’t tried to deny the flirting part.  
  
“I’m free for lunch tomorrow.” Kanan said, sounding surprised.

“Then yeah, sounds great. I’ll see you there.” Ezra smiled, backing away from his car. Then he nearly jumped out of his skin as Zeb clapped him on the back.

“Told you Specter was flirting with you.” Zeb teased, and then backed off before Ezra could punch at him.

**Author's Note:**

> This mostly started out as a joke. Because the local places I go to write are all on top of pokéstops, I'm almost always playing while writing. Every fic has been lovingly typed out while collecting items and catching pokémon. Doing a silly AU was almost inevitable.


End file.
